idiom · neutral

be snowed under (with)

UK/bi ˈsnəʊd ˈʌndə(ɹ)/US/bi ˈsnoʊd ˈʌndər/be·SNOWED·UN·der

speakingtask2

to have so much work that you cannot deal with it all

Examples

“During the exam period I was completely snowed under with assignments.”

“I'm snowed under with revision this week.”

“Teachers are often snowed under with marking after the semester ends.”

Band 8 sentence

“I was absolutely snowed under with coursework during revision week, so I had to prioritise ruthlessly.”

Collocations

  • be snowed under with work/assignments
  • feel snowed under
  • completely/utterly snowed under

Word family

snowed under adj phrasebe snowed under verb phrase

Common mistakes

I'm snowed in with work.→I'm snowed under with work.

I was snowed under by many homework.→I was snowed under with a lot of homework.

Say it for a higher band

5busy→6overwhelmed→7+be snowed under (with)

Synonyms

overwhelmed

swamped

Easily confused

snowed in

“After the blizzard many residents were snowed in and could not leave their houses.”

Related words

keep up withcatch up (on)know something inside outhit the booksburn the midnight oilput one's nose to the grindstoneread up oncram for

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